Beyond the Sycamores
by truthsetfree
Summary: Bible meets HP world. Disclaimer: Anything you recognize does not belong to me.
1. Beyond the Sycamores

Title: Beyond the Sycamores

Title: Beyond the Sycamores  
Summary: A young witch's grandmother's story of Adam and Eve. It could be any young witch, though I kind of started off with the idea it was Lily.  
Rated: G  
Warnings: um, I guess probable blasphemy  
Feedback: is always welcome  
Disclaimer: I don't own "muggles" or "witches" or the idea the two ever separated. Basically, I make no claim of ownership on anything JK wrote.

Her grandmother once told her the story, of a muggle girl in a garden, who'd lost her love, and came upon an apple hanging on a tree.

The bough bent low, and the apple clung only by a thread of a stem. It was the reddest red she'd ever seen. And the greenest green. The sun around it glowed. And distracted from her broken heart, she reached, and plucked that apple from where it hung.

The first bite was tart and warm, like unripe berries in the summer.

And with that first crisp bite came clarity.

And clarity brought comfort.

For she could find his path by crushed grass and broken branches.

And so she found him, far from where they lived. But not beyond the sycamores, where she now knew, her world did not end. The sun rose and the moon set and the rain fell, even beyond the sycamores.

He'd followed a snake, you see. To the end of what he knew to be his earth.

"Come," it said. "I know where the sweetest melons grow."

But it led him to a tree where a red fruit hung instead.

And he was alone and far from home.

"Where have you brought me?" he asked the snake. "There are no melons here."

"No, but apples are so much sweeter," said the snake, as it slithered up the tree and down the bough, bringing it lower to him.

"I have no taste for apples. I only wanted a melon to share with Eve."

And the snake dropped from the tree to the soft grasses below, hissing at him as it passed.

She gathered him into her arms and held him close so she could feel his beating heart.

And she saw melons growing. Just beyond the sycamore trees.

"If you've still a taste for melons, there's some just over there."

And Adam looked, but he did not see.

"Where?"

"Beyond the sycamores."

"There is no world beyond. That is where it ends."

"Come, my love. Eat of this apple. And you will see there's a world beyond even the sycamore trees."

And so Adam, being hungry and unbelieving, took his first bite.

And saw melons and ran to them.

But she had never cared for melons as much as he, and so she took a second bite of the apple.

With the second, oh so sweet, came magic.

And the apple shriveled as it fell from her hand.

"Adam, look what I can do!," she cried, as the ground swelled beneath her feet and hundreds of melons tumbled forth.

But Adam wasn't happy.

Because the apple was shriveled on the ground. And he'd never had a second bite.

They tried to live together anyway, but she could make fire with a simple glance. And she could see dragons as plainly as melons.

And he could not.

So they parted ways.

"And that is why muggles and witches don't live together any more."


	2. Rainbows

"When G-d decided to end the flood, he sent a white dove carrying an olive branch, to Noah. Noah saw this and was filled with hope, for the flood had reached far beyond the very tips of the trees, and the water had churned so violently that even that which could float had been pushed under- all except the ark. The ark alone could float, and the water wasn't as rough with Noah's ark. So, seeing the olive branch the little dove clutched, he knew- there was land. The courageous dove, for her part, knew only that a great cheer went up upon her arrival, and she ate the handful of dried fruit and drank the two thimbles of sweet spring water she was given, before she set into the sky once more."

The child listened, wide eyed as her grandmother's voice told the story.

"Where did the spring water come from?"

"Noah had stored it in big clay jugs," she gestured the size, "in preparation for his long time at sea. Even so, they didn't have much left. That's why he could only give the dove two thimbles full."

She allowed her granddaughter a quiet moment to think about that before continuing.

"With the dove to guide him, Noah steered the ark. The dove's wings ached, and her heartbeat sped, but still she flew, until at last they came to land."

"Is that when G-d made the promise?"

It wasn't the first time she'd heard this story.

"No. By the time they arrived, the moon and stars were bright in the sky. No, G-d made his promise to Noah the next day. With a brilliant rainbow, made of colors so strong they could have been gems, G-d promised Noah peace. He promised Noah that he would never flood the earth ever again."

It seems silly now, to think of rainbows. And surely it's absurd to be filled with anything like hope when she sees one. But when she is walking to their flat, one arm holding a bag of groceries, one hand practically twitching for her wand, the sight of this rainbow reminds her of the tales her grandmother told, and somehow she still feels safe.


End file.
